Stacks of light planes have long been used to create moving or selectable static displays for object animation or information transmission. For example, a running greyhound dog is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,930,359. Two light planes are used with the dog represented on one plane in a first running position and on the second plane in a second running position. One light on the edge of the first plane selectively lights the first plane while a second light on the edge of the second plane selectively lights the second plane. The lights are alternately lit creating the effect of a running dog. Other two plane systems are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,623,313 and 2,948,580.
Ten light plane stacks for selectively displaying the digits from 1 to 0 are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,751,584; 2,766,447; and 2,813,266. A light is provided adjacent each plane for lighting that plane. All of the above devices use electrical switching to achieve the desired movement or selection.
Other systems use moving mechanical components including lights, mirrors, or masks. A multi-colored rotating bulb is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,524,657 for continuously changing the colors of letters in three light planes. All of the planes in this device are lighted continuously. A rotating mirror is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,273,274 for reflecting light from a bulb into ten light planes one at a time in a continuous sequence. Rotating masks between the light source and the light planes are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,722,762; 2,994,971; and 4,244,130. Light shines into a particular light plane only when a window in the mask is present between the light source and the light plane. Of these, the first and last have masks that are rotated continuously by motors. The second has a mask that is adjusted by hand to selectively illuminate one of a plurality of planes.
Motor driven rotating lights, mirrors, and masks are therefore known to be useful in the sequential lighting of a stack of light planes. However, these prior art devices are limited to this sequential lighting of adjacent light planes. The simultaneous lighting of two or more non-adjacent planes or variations in the lighting sequence or plane combinations in the same revolution are beyond the capabilities of these devices.